Jazz shoot down Rockets' in NBA playoff hopes

The Utah Jazz eliminated the Houston Rockets from the National Basketball Association playoffs on Friday, closing out their Western Conference first-round series with a 113-91 victory.

Deron Williams collected 25 points and nine assists and Mehmet Okur added 19 and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who completed a 4-2 victory in the best-of-seven series and booked a second-round clash with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who swept Denver in four games.

That series will open on Sunday in Los Angeles, while the other Western Conference semi-final series, San Antonio v New Orleans, starts on Saturday.

"It feels good," Utah center Okur said. "It has been a good challenge for us. They did such a good job. They are some basketball team, I'll tell you that. They came out there and tried to win every game."

The Jazz, who led by four points at halftime, took control in the third period when they outscored the Rockets 27-11.

By the fourth quarter Utah's home fans were already chanting "Beat L.A."

Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, while Rockets superstar Tracy McGrady had 40 points and 10 rebounds.

Even that wasn't enough for McGrady to break his run of playoff futility. He has never made it out of the opening round in his 11-year career.

"It's tough, it's really tough any time you have a lot of confidence in your teammates and your team and have chances," said McGrady, who remained winless in seven career playoff series. "It's a hell of a ballclub over there. But I thought we did some great things to put ourselves in a great situation and to try to make this a series."

The Rockets had rebounded from two home defeats, but still couldn't close out the series.

Houston erased an early 19-point deficit with a rally late in the first half, but they couldn't stay on terms after the interval.

Utah's Williams scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half, burying a host of three-pointers in the third quarter.

McGrady, who entered the game as the series' leading scorer but was shooting just 41 percent from the field, had his best stretch of the series in the first half, single-handedly bringing his club back.

The All-Star guard scored 13 straight points to cut a 19-point deficit to just a single point.

But Houston couldn't keep up the pace in the third quarter, when the Jazz reasserted themselves and McGrady virtually disappeared.

After a 16-point second quarter, McGrady went scoreless in the third and the Jazz pulled inexorably away.

Williams found Boozer for an open 18-footer on the opening possession of the half, then sank the first of his four third-quarter three-pointers.

"I wanted to try to open the game back up, and I got hot," Williams said. "Shots started feeling good, and I just let it go."

By the time he finally took a breather late in the period, he had pushed the Jazz to a 17-point lead.

McGrady didn't score his first bucket of the second half until 9:26 of the fourth, drawing a foul and converting the three-point play.

By that time, however, it was too late for the Rockets, whose injured star Yao Ming of China, on the sidelines in street clothes, could only look on in dismay.

"Our guys responded," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "We made it a game at halftime, thanks to Tracy who was just unbelievable. But then they took control. You've got to give them credit. Their better players stepped up. We just ran out of gas. We couldn't make another run."